The money to be released to states and UTs for helping migrant labourers will depend on the state’s population, number of positive Covid-19 as on date and a basic minimum sum for all the states.

NEW DELHI: Answering critics and opposition parties who questioned why the government was not spending money out of the PM CARES fund for relief to people, the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on Wednesday said the Trust has decided to allocate Rs 3,100 core for the fight against Covid-19.

Out of the Rs 3100 crore, a sum of approximately Rs 2,000 crore will be earmarked for the purchase of ventilators, Rs 1,000 crores will be used for care of migrant labourers and Rs 100 crores will be given to support vaccine development, the PMO said in a statement. The government said 50,000 ‘Made-in-India’ ventilators will be purchased from the PM CARES Fund which will be provided to government run COVID hospitals in all States/UTs for better treatment of the critical COVID-19 cases.

Further, Rs 1,000 crore will be allocated to states and UTs for strengthening their efforts in providing accommodation facilities, making food arrangements, providing medical treatment and making transportation arrangements of the migrants, the PMO said. This would strengthen the existing measures being taken for the welfare of the migrants and poor, the government said, saying the States/UTs place this amount at the disposal of the District Collectors or Municipal Commissioners. The fund will be released to the District Collector/District Magistrate/Municipal Commissioner through the State Disaster Relief Commissioner of the States/UTs concerned.

To support the COVID-19 vaccine designers and developers, an amount of Rs. 100 Crore will be given from PM CARES Fund as a helping hand to catalyse vaccine development, which will be utilized under the supervision of Principal Scientific Advisor K. VijayRaghavan, the PMO said. “A vaccine against COVID-19 is the most pressing need and Indian academia, start-ups and industry has come together in cutting-edge vaccine design and development,” the government said.

The money to be released to states and UTs for helping migrant labourers will depend on the state’s population, number of positive Covid-19 as on date and a basic minimum sum for all the states.

The trust headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi met today along with other members, the Defence Minister, Home Minister and Finance Minister. “While announcing this package, the Prime Minister has thanked all the donors for their generosity in contributing to the PM CARES Fund which will support India’s fight against COVID-19,” the PMO said.